SANTA CLARA COUNTY (KRON) — Jury selections are continuing Tuesday morning in the trial of Antolin Garcia-Torres who has been charged with the kidnapping and killing Sierra LaMar, the 15-year-old girl who went missing in 2012. Opening statements are scheduled to happen on January 18th.

Garcia-Torres was arrested in May 2012 after Sierra’s DNA was found in his red Volkswagen Jetta. He was formally indicted in February of 2014 in the murder. Lamar’s remains have never been found.

The defense for Garcia-Torres plans to argue that this is a missing person case. In October 2016, lawyers for Torres asked the court to allow evidence they say will show that LaMar ran away from home.

SAN JOSE — A judge Tuesday postponed the capital murder trial of the man charged with killing missing teen Sierra LaMar by at least 12 days to give defense lawyers more time to analyze new information on the key genetic evidence against him.

The trial, which was set to start Wednesday, could be delayed even longer than to Jan. 30 if Superior Court Judge Vanessa A. Zecher later this week grants a motion by defense attorneys for Antolin Garcia-Torres to postpone it until Feb. 27.

Sierra disappeared nearly five years ago on March 16, 2012, on her way to her school bus stop in a rural area north of Morgan Hill.

Although her body has never been found, prosecutors charged Garcia-Torres, now 25, based on circumstantial evidence, including DNA consistent with his on her clothing, which was found in a field near her bus stop. Also, DNA consistent with hers was found in Garcia-Torres’ Volkswagen Jetta, including in the trunk, and on gloves and a rope in the trunk.

If Garcia-Torres is convicted of Sierra’s murder, the jury then would decide whether to sentence him to life without parole or death.

Two different kinds of tests performed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s crime lab had supported the prosecution’s contention that the complex mixed samples contained his DNA. But one of the tests is now inconclusive under the revised protocol.

Defense attorneys asked Tuesday on the eve of opening statements for more time to analyze the implications of the more than 1,000 pages of new information since they received some of the documents late last week.

Both the prosecution and defense in the Sierra LaMar murder trial on Tuesday decided on a jury.Opening statements were scheduled to begin Wednesday, but a judge on Tuesday against postponed the trial by at least two weeks to give defense lawyers more time to analyze new information on the crime lab's DNA analysis procedures.Opening statements are now scheduled for January 30.

"The prosecution needs to build this case without a body, without a crime scene," Clark said. "The defense needs to give an alternate theory that Sierra is a runaway."

“Sierra LaMar is dead and this man killed her,” prosecutor David Boyd said while pointing at Garcia-Torres. “It is a parent’s worst nightmare.” Defense attorney Al Lopez is expected to argue that Sierra was a runaway who is possibly still alive, not a murder victim. A key piece of evidence for their case is a notebook found in Sierra’s classroom in the days following her disappearance. The notebook contained a letter stating that Sierra planned to run away from a broken home and that she hated her life.

Prosecutors said the notebook was left in Sierra’s locker by Ann Sobrato High School classmates as a terrible hoax. The trial is expected to last through April.

SAN JOSE — In an all-out attack on the prosecution’s case, a lawyer for the man accused of killing missing Morgan Hill area teen Sierra Lamar contended Tuesday there’s no evidence the missing girl is even dead.

Defense lawyer Al Lopez stressed in his opening statement that the prosecution has yet to prove a crime was committed in the first place, trying to raise doubt about the missing girl’s fate.

Lopez took particular aim at the DNA evidence, the cornerstone of the prosecution’s case. He told the jury of six men and six women that the prosecution’s evidence “doesn’t prove anything” and urged jurors to keep an open mind “every single day” of the three- to four-month capital murder trial.

Santa Clara County prosecutor David Boyd had told the jury on Monday, the first day of the trial, that “Sierra is dead — and this man killed her,” gesturing toward Garcia-Torres in the courtroom. ”She had no reason to abandon everything she knew, loved and cared about,’ Boyd said.

Prosecutors have charged Garcia-Torres with murder and attempting to kidnap three other women in 2009, charges that could send him either to death row or life in prison without parole if he’s convicted. Garcia-Torres has pleaded not guilty.

Boyd contended that DNA consistent with Garcia-Torres’ was found on Sierra’s pants, and that her DNA was found in his 1998 VW Jetta, including on a rope in the trunk.

One of Santa Clara County Superior Court’s most closely watched murder trials, the case is unfolding nearly five years after 15-year-old Sierra disappeared on March 16, 2012 and more than 750 volunteers searched futilely for her body.

Boyd indicated the prosecution will rely heavily on forensic evidence to prove Garcia-Torres and Sierra crossed paths, or “collided,” as he put it, the day she vanished. In 2012, Garcia-Torres, then 21, told investigators they had never met.

Boyd told the jury several signs that showed that they did meet, including a strand of what he said was her hair on a rope in the trunk of Garcia-Torres’ red 1998 Volkswagen Jetta to DNA consistent with his on her pants, which were found along with the rest of her belongings in a field less than three miles from her bus stop on Palm Drive.

Logged

I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"We won't give up on you, Natalee. You didn't give up on us, and we will continue with the investigation until we have all of the answers to your disappearance. God be with you my Natalee!" Dave Holloway ARUBA

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KTVU) - In the third day of the Sierra LaMar murder trial, prosecutors presented key evidence to jurors including the 15-year-old's bag, clothing and cell phone, all found days after she vanished in 2012.

Antolin Garcia-Torres is charged with kidnapping and killing Sierra despite her body never being found.

The prosecution stressing how this evidence was carefully collected and preserved one day after the defense's opening statements attacked the evidence, calling them contaminated and mishandled.

Prosecutors in the Sierra LaMar murder trial showing the jury the actual black bag, San Jose Sharks sweatshirt and jeans, the 15 year old was last seen with found damp and not far from where she disappeared back in March of 2012 walking to a school bus stop. Search volunteers in the courtroom said it was difficult to see.They are crucial pieces of forensic evidence given authorities are still looking for a body. Deputies testified how they followed protocol when they found Sierra’s belongings. One deputy said he changed latex gloves for every piece of evidence collected.

“Part of the defense strategy will be to put the Santa Clara County crime lab on trial,” said Legal Analyst Steven Clark. “They are going to say the methodologies used were not up to date and not accurate.”

The defense is attacking the prosecution's claims Antolin Garcia-Torres’s DNA was on Sierra’s clothing. Defense Attorney Al Lopez said sloppy preservation from investigators led to cross contamination.

“The district attorney is going to be build that house,” said Clark. “The defense is trying to kick it down brick by brick in explaining away this forensic evidence.”

Sierra’s cell phone was also admitted as evidence. A sheriff search volunteer, who happens to be Gilroy’s current mayor found it. He testified no footprints or tire tracks were by the phone found in a muddy field.

It’s been chess match of sorts inside a San Jose courtroom during the early stages of the Sierra LaMar murder trial, and on Wednesday and Thursday, the defense made a couple of crucial and somewhat successful moves.

The trial of Sierra's accused killer, Antolin Garcia Torres, wrapped up its fourth day, with the defense spending a good amount of time tearing down key parts of the prosecution’s case, including getting a key admission from an investigator that at least one part of his police report was "inaccurate."

SANTA CLARA COUNTY (KRON) — Antolin Garcia-Torres’s lawyers are arguing that Sierra LaMar was a runaway during day 5 of the murder trial.LaMar’s best friend Shannah Foreman took the stand on Monday. She testified that LaMar was very attached to her phone. They texted each other a lot but had no contact after she vanished.

Foreman said LaMar was “angry” about the recent move.

She also testified that LaMar was excited to go to attend a part in Fremont the night she disappeared. She said marijuana would be available at the party.

The close friend told the courtroom that LaMar used to return to Fremont to “party and pop pills.”

A classmate of LaMar’s, Alejandra Kendrick, testified that they had planned to go to the movies the day LaMar vanished. She also said she had never heard LaMar mention the defendant.

The friend became emotional as she recalled how LaMar always tilted her head a certain way in photographs.

The afternoon session of the trial included LaMar’s friends recalling how their plans to get together did not happen after she went missing.

"We won't give up on you, Natalee. You didn't give up on us, and we will continue with the investigation until we have all of the answers to your disappearance. God be with you my Natalee!" Dave Holloway ARUBA

She wiped away tears as she testified in Santa Clara County Superior Court the second week of the capital murder trial for a Morgan Hill man suspected of killing her daughter.

Antolin Garcia-Torres, 25, could face the death penalty if convicted in Sierra’s abduction and murder. He is also being tried on allegations he attempted to kidnap and carjack three women in 2009, one of them outside a Morgan Hill Safeway, where Garcia-Torres had worked.

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney David Boyd laid out the timeline of Sierra’s disappearance as he questioned the teen’s mother. Sierra, her mother, and her mother’s then live-in boyfriend, Rick Gardiner, had moved from Fremont to Morgan Hill about five months before Sierra went missing.

Sierra LaMar's Mother, Sister Weep on Witness Stand in Court The trial is set to continue this week. By California Patch (Patch Staff) - February 8, 2017 11:54 am ET

Sierra LaMar's mother and sister wept on the witness stand today as they testified in the death penalty trial of Antolin Garcia-Torres, the 25-year-old man charged with the 15-year-old's murder. Prosecutor David Boyd also called up a third witness, the Morgan Hill school bus driver who took Sierra to and from Ann Sobrato High School most weekdays in the month before she went missing in March 2012.

But before the jury or Sierra's parents entered the San Jose courtroom this morning, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Vanessa Zecher, prosecutor David Boyd and defense attorney Al Lopez discussed whether the defense could be permitted to bring up the court order preventing Sierra from living with her father, Steve LaMar.Attorneys and Zecher also discussed a journal entry by Sierra in which she expresses angst at "Moving away from all my friends, the situation with my mom and her boyfriend, not being able to see my dad because he got sent to jail for something he didn't even do."

Before the jury today, both Boyd and Lopez briefly mentioned the court order, but neither attorney brought up the journal entry or Steve LaMar's molestation conviction. In her testimony, Marlene LaMar said that Sierra had mixed feelings about moving from Fremont to Morgan Hill in October of her sophomore year.Kim Kirkpatrick started driving Sierra's school bus route about a month before the teenager's disappearance and knew her to be a regular rider. When Boyd asked Kirkpatrick if Sierra had a noticeably consistent demeanor, she said: "She was always smiling... smiling getting on, smiling getting off."

SAN JOSE — After Sierra LaMar disappeared five years ago, heavy rain and a delay in getting started hampered the scent-tracking ability of trained dogs looking for the missing teen, a volunteer member of the sheriff’s search and rescue team testified in court Thursday.

The testimony by Kristine Black, one of the search managers for the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, came on the seventh day of Antolin Garcia-Torres’ capital murder trial in Santa Clara County Superior Court.Black’s testimony about some of the search’s limitations — including challenges the weather posed for the dogs — bolstered the prosecution’s contention that the fact that Sierra’s remains have not been found doesn’t mean she is still alive.

Black is a volunteer who helps manage the sheriff’s civilian search and rescue team, and an expert in handling both cadaver and “live-find” dogs.

Prosecutors in the trial of a man accused of killing Morgan Hill teenager Sierra LaMar sought Wednesday to dispute the defense’s suggestion that the girl ran away — a claim that relies in part on a brief entry in one of her school notebooks.

Sierra was last seen nearly five years ago, leaving behind belongings that offered clues to her disappearance and alleged murder at age 15.

One of those items was a Spanish notebook from Ann Sobrato High School in Morgan Hill, which has become the center of discussion in the San Jose courtroom. A note inside reads, “I hate my life ... no ever sees this. I will be in San Fransisco by 3/16/12.”

Sierra was last seen that morning, and her body has not been found.

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney David Boyd brought in a handwriting expert on Wednesday to tell the jury that the contested notebook entry was probably not written by Sierra — an assertion that was challenged by defense attorneys.

On Wednesday, the prosecution also put Morgan Hill resident Joanna Moore on the stand to try to tie Garcia-Torres to the shed off Laguna Avenue where Sierra’s discarded clothing and purse were found two days after she went missing.

Moore said that she had been going to the shed to feed feral cats around the same period of time and noticed other people also were feeding them. A bag of dry cat food was found in the trunk of Garcia-Torres’ car, which prosecutors suggested he used to feed such cats, though not necessarily at the same spot.

However, Moore surprised even the prosecution by testifying that other spots in the rural community where cat lovers feed feral cats included Paquita Espana Court, where Sierra lived with her mother.

Logged

I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"We won't give up on you, Natalee. You didn't give up on us, and we will continue with the investigation until we have all of the answers to your disappearance. God be with you my Natalee!" Dave Holloway ARUBA

"We won't give up on you, Natalee. You didn't give up on us, and we will continue with the investigation until we have all of the answers to your disappearance. God be with you my Natalee!" Dave Holloway ARUBA

SAN JOSE — Prosecution witnesses spent much of Thursday defending how they gathered some of their most crucial evidence against the man charged with killing missing Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar — a rope found in the trunk of his Volkswagen that they say had the girl’s hair on it.

The witnesses — all crime scene investigators with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office — testified they wore latex gloves and took other precautions to avoid contaminating the long white, neatly coiled rope and dozens of other items found in defendant Antolin Garcia-Torres’ red Volkswagen Jetta. Prosecutors allege that one of the many strands of hair found on the rope had Sierra’s DNA.

The evidence is key because Garcia-Torres, 25, told police he had never met Sierra. Although DNA consistent with the teen’s also was found inside Garcia-Torres’ car, the genetic evidence on the rope suggests a scarier scenario — that Sierra may have been tied up and put in the trunk.

SAN JOSE — The former girlfriend of the man accused of killing missing Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar resumed testifying in his murder trial Tuesday, telling jurors she couldn’t recall whether he was with her the morning five years ago when the girl disappeared.

Altogether, the ex-girlfriend, Frances Sarmiento, said “I don’t remember,” “I’m not sure” or “I don’t know” more than two dozen times Tuesday morning — in response to the question of where Garcia-Torres was on March 16, 2012, and nearly every other inquiry.

While Sarmiento wasn’t exactly a hostile witness for the prosecution, the mother of Garcia-Torres’ two children took care not to incriminate him. On the other hand, she didn’t go out of her way to provide him with an alibi or otherwise actively support his defense.